My rock, my fortress, my deliverer

 

The Verse of the Day for February 4, 2018 is found in Psalm 18:1-2 (NIV):

[Psalm 18] [For the director of music. Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:] I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. [Psalm 18]

This passage presents a series of metaphors personalized with the pronoun, my, meaning each of the attributes described belongs to the Psalmist, who composes his own song of praise for God’s deliverance:

My strength:

This expression echoes throughout the Psalms, especially in Psalm 27:1-2

The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?

Verse 32 of Psalm 18 also makes known this truth:

It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect.

Psalm 19:14 also makes reference to the source of strength for David:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

My rock:

Psalm 18:46 offers a similar expression:

The Lord lives, blessed be my rock, and may the God of my salvation be exalted,

Psalm 31:2-3 offer this petition:

² Bow down Your ear to me,
Deliver me speedily;
Be my rock of refuge,
A fortress  of defense to save me.

³ For You are my rock and my fortress;
Therefore, for Your name’s sake,
Lead me and guide me.

Psalm 61:2 also elaborates on “the rock”:

From the end of the earth I call to You, when my heart is overwhelmed and weak; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I [a rock that is too high to reach without Your help]

Psalm 62:2 makes this bold declaration:

He alone is my rock and my salvation, My defense and my strong tower; I will not be shaken or disheartened

My fortress

A similar expression is found in 2 Samuel 22:2:

And he said: “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;

Verse 33 elaborates:

“God is my strong fortress; He sets the blameless in His way.

Psalm 59:16-17 use a similar phrase

But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.

You are my strength, I sing praise to you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely.

We find references to the Lord, “My savior” throughout the Psalms and elsewhere:

Psalm 18:46 (NIV):

The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!

Psalm 25:5 (NIV) states:

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

Psalm 89:26 (NIV) also speaks:

He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.’

Psalm 118:21(AMP):

I will give thanks to You, for You have heard and answered me; And You have become my salvation [my Rescuer, my Savior

My shield

Here we find another strong metaphor, appears in the Psalms and elsewhere:

In 2 Samuel 22:3 (NIV) we find this reference:

My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent people you save me.

2 Samuel 22:36 makes this bold statement:

You make your saving help my shield; your help has made me great.

Psalm 3:3 (AMP) declares:

But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory [and my honor], and the One who lifts my head.

Psalm 119:114 (NIV) puts it this way:

You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.

One of favorite verses using “shield” is Psalm 84:11 (AMP):

¹¹ For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows [present] grace and favor and [future] glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

My stronghold:

The series of metaphors closes with the phrase “my stronghold,” used in various places:

Psalm 31:4 (AMP)

You will draw me out of the net that they have secretly laid for me, for You are my strength and my stronghold.

Psalm 31:49 (AMP):

You will draw me out of the net that they have secretly laid for me, for You are my strength and my stronghold.

Psalm 59:9 (AMP) has this to say:

O [God] my strength, I will watch for You; For God is my stronghold [my refuge, my protector, my high tower].

Verses 16-17 express the same:

But as for me, I will sing of Your mighty strength and power; Yes, I will sing joyfully of Your lovingkindness in the morning; For You have been my stronghold And a refuge in the day of my distress.

To You, O [God] my strength, I will sing praises; For God is my stronghold [my refuge, my protector, my high tower], the God who shows me [steadfast] lovingkindness.

After reading this barrage of personal references the Lord and all that He is and what He  does for us, all we can offer is this expression of absolute delight and pleasure: “My, my, my…what a Savior!.”

The essence of the message of the Verse of the Day is embodied in the song “Jesus, My Savior”:Jesus My Savior:

God our deliverer

The Verse of the Day for June 24, 2017 reminds us of who God is and what He will do:

2 Thessalonians 3:3

But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. 2
Throughout the Bible we see the faithfulness of God never fails to deliver those who serve him.

In the Old Testament some form of the verb palat, the Hebrew word for “deliver,” is translated “to pluck out of the hands of an oppressor or enemy; to preserve, recover, remove; to deliver from danger, evil, trouble; to be delivered, to escape.” Note how the term is used in Psalm 31:1-5 in the New Living Translation:

O LORD, I have come to you for protection;
don’t let me be disgraced.
Save me, for you do what is right.
2 Turn your ear to listen to me;
rescue me quickly.
Be my rock of protection,
a fortress where I will be safe.
3 You are my rock and my fortress.
For the honor of your name, lead me out of this danger.
4 Pull me from the trap my enemies set for me,
for I find protection in you alone.
5 I entrust my spirit into your hand.
Rescue me, LORD, for you are a faithful God.

Psalm 31:1-5 states this:

1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.
2 Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defense to save me.
3 For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.
4 Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.
5 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.

Isaiah 46:4 offers this promise in the New King James version:

Even to your old age, I am He,
And even to gray hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

In the New Testament the Greek verb ruomai is translated “to draw or snatch to one’s self from danger, to rescue, to deliver.”
In the poem “Why Don’t Somebody Help Me Praise the Lord, “my personal testimony expressed poetically I make reference being rescued from of a horrible situation:

With lovin arms you reached way down
And snatched me from Satan’s outhouse,
Sought me and flat-out rescued me,
Fixed me up in my Father’s house.

The Verse of the Day also uses the expression “keep from evil.” We recognize a similar phrase in the prayer that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke before his crucifixion:

John 17:15 (New Living Translation)

15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.

We are, of course, familiar with closing words of the Lord’s Prayer in

Matthew 6:13 from the King James Version

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

The New Living Translation renders the verse this way:

And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

II Timothy 4:18 also reminds us

And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory forever and ever.

The poem “Protect Us,” from a series of teachings entitled “A Five-fold Prayer,” reinforces the message that God is faithful and that He will deliver, just as He promised:

As children run to safety in their father’s arms,
So we, too, run to you, “our shelter from life’s storms.”
Lord, we long to dwell with you in the secret place,
Our buckler, our shield, deliverer, our fortress,
Strong tower, defender, who responds to our prayer.
For Lord, you are faithful, who will establish us
And protect us and deliver us from evil.

The Verse of the Day and other related scriptures remind us of God’s promise to deliver, even though we may not know how:

Just How God Will Deliver Us

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves,
that we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God which raises the dead:
Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver:
in whom we trust that he will still deliver us;
1 Corinthians 1:8-9

Just how God will deliver us we do not know,
But of His unfailing love and power we are sure:
He can send a raven and command a widow
To sustain Elijah and all who will endure.
Though He may not be early, God is never late.
We rest in knowing that our Father is faithful,
As we trust Him, learning to labor and to wait.
For each promise fulfilled we are ever grateful
And express our gratitude in word and in deed.
Despite the gross darkness of these perilous times,
Each day we walk by faith wherever Christ may lead,
For grand mountain vistas await the one who climbs.
The hand of God brought us thus far along the way,
And we will finish my course is all we can say.

Psalm 18 speaks of God as our deliverer, expressed musically by Clint Brown:

Our deliverer to the rescue

The Verse of the Day for February 7, 2017 comes from Psalm 97:10 (NKJV)

You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked.

The Amplified Bible renders the verse this way:

¹⁰ O you who love the Lord, hate evil; He preserves the lives of His saints (the children of God), He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.

The closing phrase brings to mind Isaiah 46:4, rendered in the New King James version:

Even to your old age, I am He,
And even to gray hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

The promise that God will deliver brings to mind this poem recently posted in an entry entitled “The Art of Listening”:

Listen to Me

Isaiah 46:3-4

Listen to me. Open your ears and clearly hear

I have always been there. Though you had not perceived

My presence in the wasteland, I was ever near.

Indeed, I knew you before you were first conceived.

Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He

Who still holds you and causes you to remember.

I open deaf ears and cause blinded eyes to see

The passion that consumes your soul was once an ember.

Though I seem to be delayed, I will not tarry

But will return for the faithful ones who remain:

Those whom I have made those I will also carry;

Those whom I have called by name I will sustain.

Rest in me: I will perform all I said to do.

Know that I will sustain you and will rescue you.

In response to the truth that God has promised to rescue those who call upon His name, we can be assured that He will.  Just as he has delivered us in times past, we know that He will once more come to our rescue. As the lyrics to the song so clearly proclaim: “We may not know how/We may not know when, but He’ll do it again”, just as this poem reminds us:

Just How God Will Deliver Us

that we should not trust in ourselves,    

but in God which raises the dead:

Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver:    

in whom we trust that he will still deliver us;  

 1 Corinthians 1:8-9

Just how God will deliver us this we do not know,

But of His unfailing love and power we are sure:

He can send ravens or simply command a widow

To sustain Elijah and all those who will endure.

Although He may not be early, our God is never late.

We rest in knowing that God, our Father, is faithful,

As we trust in Him, learning to labor and to wait.

For each promise fulfilled we are ever so grateful,

And we express our gratitude in word and in deed.

Despite the challenge, God has been there time after time.

Each day we will walk by faith wherever Christ may lead,

Knowing grand mountain vistas await all those who climb.

The hand of God has brought us thus far along the way,

And we will finish our course is all we have to say.

In thinking about God as a deliverer, I also recall lyrics to another original song:

I Will Deliver You

I will deliver you from the snare of the fowler.

As a bird escapes from the cage, so I will release you from captivity.

I will lift you up, out of the hand of your fiercest enemy.

I will draw you to myself and hide you under the safety of my wing.

I will deliver you from the raging deep waters.

The sea shall not overwhelm you, but I will bring you through the storms in peace.

I will lift you up, and bear you up on the wings of an eagle.

I will provide for you and hide you in my secret dwelling place.

These lyrics bring to mind yet another song of great comfort and assurance: “My Deliverer” offered by Chris Tomlin:

He delivers them

In examining previous blog entries from the Psalms, I came across this particular post that provides great encouragement at this time. I am re-posting an entry based on the Verse of the Day for February 7, 2016 from the Holman Standard Bible’s rendering of

Psalm 97:10

You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked.

The Amplified Bible renders the verse this way:

¹⁰ O you who love the Lord, hate evil; He preserves the lives of His saints (the children of God), He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.

The closing phrase brings to mind Isaiah 46:4, rendered in the New King James version:

Even to your old age, I am He,
And even to gray hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

The promise that God will deliver caused me to think of a poem composed a few years ago, but I revised it and now recognize that it has a timeless message that echoes in our lives today:

Just How God Will Deliver Us

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves,

that we should not trust in ourselves,    

but in God which raises the dead:

Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver:    

in whom we trust that he will still deliver us;  

1 Corinthians 1:8-9

 

Just how God will deliver us this we do not know,

But of His unfailing love and power we are sure:

He can send ravens or simply command a widow

To sustain Elijah and all those who will endure.

Although He may not be early, our God is never late.

We rest in knowing that God, our Father, is faithful,

As we trust in Him, learning to labor and to wait.

For each promise fulfilled we are ever so grateful,

And we express our gratitude in word and in deed.

Despite the challenge, God has been there time after time.

Each day we will walk by faith wherever Christ may lead,

Knowing grand mountain vistas await all those who climb.

The hand of God has brought us thus far along the way,

And we will finish our course is all we have to say.

 

In thinking about God as a deliverer, I also recall lyrics to another original song:

I Will Deliver You

I will deliver you from the snare of the fowler.

As a bird escapes from the cage, so I will release you from captivity.

I will lift you up, out of the hand of your fiercest enemy.

I will draw you to myself and hide you under the safety of my wing.

 

I will deliver you from the raging deep waters.

The sea shall not overwhelm you, but I will bring you through the storms in peace.

I will lift you up, and bear you up on the wings of an eagle.

I will provide for you and hide you in my secret dwelling place.

These lyrics bring to mind yet another song of great comfort and assurance: “My Deliverer” offered by Chris Tomlin:

Just how God will deliver us

The Verse of the Day for November 20, 2015 comes from Psalm 95:1-2 and serves as prelude to Thanksgiving Day, the coming holiday observed on the fourth Thursday in November:

Psalm 95:1-2

O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

For the believer, every day is a celebration whereby we come into God’s presence with hearts overflowing with gratitude.

In examining previous blog entries from the Psalms, I came across this particular post that provides great encouragement at this time. I am re-posting an entry based on another verse from the Book of Psalms:

Psalm 97:10

You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked.

The Amplified Bible renders the verse this way:

¹⁰ O you who love the Lord, hate evil; He preserves the lives of His saints (the children of God), He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.

The closing phrase brings to mind Isaiah 46:4, rendered in the New King James version:

Even to your old age, I am He,
And even to gray hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

The promise that God will deliver caused me to think of a poem composed a few years ago, but I revised it and now recognize that it has a timeless message that echoes in our lives today:

Just How God Will Deliver Us

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves,

that we should not trust in ourselves,    

but in God which raises the dead:

Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver:    

in whom we trust that he will still deliver us;  

1 Corinthians 1:8-9

 

Just how God will deliver us this we do not know,

But of His unfailing love and power we are sure:

He can send ravens or simply command a widow

To sustain Elijah and all those who will endure.

Although He may not be early, our God is never late.

We rest in knowing that God, our Father, is faithful,

As we trust in Him, learning to labor and to wait.

For each promise fulfilled we are ever so grateful,

And we express our gratitude in word and in deed.

Despite the challenge, God has been there time after time.

Each day we will walk by faith wherever Christ may lead,

Knowing grand mountain vistas await all those who climb.

The hand of God has brought us thus far along the way,

And we will finish our course is all we have to say.

In thinking about God as a deliverer, I also recall lyrics to another original song:

I Will Deliver You

I will deliver you from the snare of the fowler.

As a bird escapes from the cage, so I will release you from captivity.

I will lift you up, out of the hand of your fiercest enemy.

I will draw you to myself and hide you under the safety of my wing.

 

I will deliver you from the raging deep waters.

The sea shall not overwhelm you, but I will bring you through the storms in peace.

I will lift you up, and bear you up on the wings of an eagle.

I will provide for you and hide you in my secret dwelling place.

 

These lyrics bring to mind yet another song of great comfort and assurance: “My Deliverer” offered by Chris Tomlin:

 

Just how God will deliver us

The Verse of the Day for February 7, 2015 is a source of great encouragement:

Psalm 97:10

You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked.

The Amplified Bible renders the verse this way:

¹⁰ O you who love the Lord, hate evil; He preserves the lives of His saints (the children of God), He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.

The closing phrase brings to mind Isaiah 46:4, rendered in the New King James version:

Even to your old age, I am He,
And even to gray hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

The promise that God will deliver caused me to think of a poem composed sometime ago, but I revised it and now recognize that it has a timeless message that echoes in our lives today:

Just How God Will Deliver Us

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves,

that we should not trust in ourselves,    

but in God which raises the dead:

Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver:    

in whom we trust that he will still deliver us;  

1 Corinthians 1:8-9

Just how God will deliver us this we do not know,

But of His unfailing love and power we are sure:

He can send ravens or simply command a widow

To sustain Elijah and all those who will endure.

Although He may not be early, our God is never late.

We rest in knowing that God, our Father, is faithful,

As we trust in Him, learning to labor and to wait.

For each promise fulfilled we are ever so grateful,

And we express our gratitude in word and in deed.

Despite the challenge, God has been there time after time.

Each day we will walk by faith wherever Christ may lead,

Knowing grand mountain vistas await all those who climb.

The hand of God has brought us thus far along the way,

And we will finish our course is all we have to say.

In thinking about God as a deliverer, I also recall lyrics to another original song:

I Will Deliver You

I will deliver you from the snare of the fowler.

As a bird escapes from the cage, so I will release you from captivity.

I will lift you up, out of the hand of your fiercest enemy.

I will draw you to myself and hide you under the safety of my wing.

I will deliver you from the raging deep waters.

The sea shall not overwhelm you, but I will bring you through the storms in peace.

I will lift you up, and bear you up on the wings of an eagle.

I will provide for you and hide you in my secret dwelling place.

These lyrics bring to mind yet another song of great comfort and assurance: “My Deliverer” offered by Chris Tomlin:

 

In the midst of trying times: Finding comfort

This passage from Psalm 94 is the inspiration for a previous blog entry containing these same verses and which is modified and re-posted here:

The Verse of the Day for August 23, 2014 is taken from Psalm 94:18-19, rendered here in the Amplified Bible:

¹⁸ When I said, My foot is slipping, Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, held me up.

¹⁹ In the multitude of my [anxious] thoughts within me, Your comforts cheer and delight my soul!

Verse 19 is the inspiration for this scripture memory song:

In the Multitude of My Thoughts

In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Your comforts delight my soul.

You soothe my mind and strengthen the depths of my heart and soul.

I delight myself in the abundance of Your peace.

You are my God. I know You love me.

You are my God. You’ve set me free.

You are my God. You will never leave me.

You are my God. I long to be all you’ve called me to be.

In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Your comforts delight my soul.

Your comforts delight my soul.

Your comforts delight my soul.

The times in which we live seem to be especially challenging, as the pressures of life abound in the midst of what the Bible speaks of as “perilous times” or times that are difficult to deal with. The lyrics to “This Too Shall Pass” express what seems to be transpiring in our lives every day:

In the middle of the turbulence surrounding us,

These trying times are so hard to endure

In the middle of what seems to be your darkest hour

Hold fast your heart and be assured

From time to time, we may lose focus and become anxious regarding our circumstances that ever seem to fluctuate. During times of uncertainty when our feet seem to slip and we are about to lose our grip, we can turn our thoughts toward the promises of God, assured that just as He has been with us through the stormy trials of the past, so He will be with us now. Along with the Psalmist, we take comfort in this knowledge which delights our soul.

Listen to a reading of Psalm 94 in its entirety while the screen focuses on Psalm 94:18-19

In reading the passage from Psalm 94, I also recall lyrics to another original song:

I Will Deliver You

I will deliver you from the snare of the fowler.

As a bird escapes from the cage, so I will release you from captivity.

I will lift you up, out of the hand of your fiercest enemy.

I will draw you to myself and hide you under the safety of my wing.

I will deliver you from the raging deep waters.

The sea shall not overwhelm you, but I will bring you through the storms in peace.

I will lift you up, and bear you up on the wings of an eagle.

I will provide for you and hide you in my secret dwelling place.

These lyrics bring to mind a song of great comfort and assurance: “My Deliverer” by Chris Tomlin: